How to make a hex river, part one (fixed)

There are plenty of tutorials, some of them very good, on how to make rivers for your wargames table. I have a slightly trickier task as my river sections need to fit within a hex system. To that end, I've started making straight sections using MDF bases from Products for Wargamers.

I've posted about this before, but not a step by step tutorial. My apologies for the repetition, but this hopefully this will make the process easier to follow.

These are cut exactly to size and fit the hex perfectly, making curves is going to be a little trickier though.


I use standard Vallejo model paints for my river bed. The darker blue gives an illusion of depth and using a particular brand out of the pot means that I don't have to rely on matching things by eye, which is a particular problem when mixing paint by hand.


Paint the base Prussian blue but make sure to go out a little further than you expect to. There is no difficulty covering some paint with filler, but you can run into problems if there is a gap between the blue of the "water" and the river bank, so don't be stingy.


Then mix a few dabs of blue-grey with your remaining Prussian blue and dab along the side. This will lighten the edges and give the illusion of depth. Do this as quickly as possible, ideally before the Prussian blue has time to try. I find using an old brush and stabbing directly down on the paint surface the best way to do this.

(I have broken my heart trying to fix the above picture,
but to no avail. It shall have to lie as it is.)

Then using a plasticard offcut or a piece of card, add filler to the side of the base being careful to ensure that there is no gap between the paint and the miller. Also run a straight edge along the sides of the base so that no filler is protruding over the edge as this can dry and make it more difficult for your section to line up.

Allow to dry and we'll get to the next bit in part two, which will include making bends and "water".